Did Jesus and Mary Magdalene marry and have two children?
According to a widely publicized new book, The Lost Gospel, he did! Authors Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson begin their book with this sensational claim:
What the Vatican feared—and what Dan Brown only suspected—has come true!1
How could that be? Such a sensational claim totally contradicts the four gospel accounts of Jesus in the New Testament, which portray Jesus ascending to heaven forty days after his resurrection.
So is this just another non-factual conspiracy about Jesus like Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, or is there really evidence to support it? This latest attack on the truth of the Christian message has become a major news story—just in time for Christmas!
The British tabloid, The Daily Mail, reports,
If true, this would make it the greatest revelation into the life of Jesus in nearly 2,000 years.2
In The Lost Gospel, Professor Barrie Wilson and Jewish writer Simcha Jacobovici attack the very core of the Christian belief. They attempt to prove in their book that a 6th century manuscript in the British Museum is actually a “lost gospel” written in code.
Their theory is based on the claims that this ‘lost’ gospel and the ‘encrypted’ story of Jesus’ marriage was the work of a group of persecuted Christians. It apparently disappeared from public view around 325 AD.3
The authors claim in their book that the decoding of the manuscript reveals startling hidden facts about Jesus. The two most radical claims made in The Lost Gospel are:
- The New Testament gospels are wrong about the end of Jesus’ life.
- Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children.
What makes these claims so radical is that they undermine the truth of the entire Christian message. If the New Testament is wrong about what happened to Jesus after his death, how can we trust its message of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus’ death for us?
The credibility of the New Testament hinges on whether or not its reported eyewitness accounts about Jesus are true as the apostle Peter tells us,
When we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling just clever stories that someone invented. But we saw the greatness of Jesus with our own eyes.4
The apostle John also claims here to have been an eyewitness to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
We are writing to you about something which has always existed yet which we ourselves actually saw and heard: something which we had an opportunity to observe closely and even to hold in our hands…we saw it, we are eye-witnesses of it, and are now writing to you about it. It was the very life of all ages, the life that has always existed with the Father, which actually became visible in person to us mortal men.5
But Jacobovici and Wilson say that the New Testament was changed, and the true story of what happened to Jesus was written in what they call, the “lost gospel.” Before addressing the facts about The Lost Gospel, it should be noted that Jacobovici has made other claims about Jesus that proved to be false.
- In 2002, he produced a documentary on the James Ossuary, arguing it provided evidence that Jesus had a family. Later, the Discovery Channel called it “one of the 10 top scientific hoaxes of all time.”6
- In 2007, he and film director James Cameron produced a Discovery Channeldocumentary on The Jesus Family Tomb, which they purported was the true burial place for Jesus. That claim also became headline news, drawing huge TV ratings. Archaeologists quickly denounced those claims as unfounded (see “Jesus’ Family Tomb: Fact or Fiction?“). William Dever, a non-Christian archaeologist from the University of Arizona, stated,
It’s a publicity stunt, and it will make these guys very rich. And it will upset millions of innocent people because they don’t know enough to separate fact from fiction.7
Furthermore, a letter signed by 17 academics condemned Jacobovici’s work as“controversial,” citing its lack of objectivity.8
Although scholars have debunked Jacobovici’s prior claims about Jesus, The Lost Gospel needs to be evaluated on its own merits. Will the evidence show it to be simply another “publicity stunt,” or does it truly revise the history of Jesus Christ?
Let’s look at how Jacobovici and Wilson draw such radical conclusions about this 6th century manuscript. They claim to have spent years “decoding” the text, a Syriac language version of a Greek story, entitled Joseph and Aseneth. The key to their “decoding” is the replacing of the name of Joseph with the name “Jesus,” and the name of Aseneth with “Mary Magdalene.”
Jacobovici and Wilson then launch readers on a trail of intrigue and hypothetical assumptions, ending up with their sensational conclusion:
We now have a decoded manuscript–at least as authoritative as the Canonical Gospels–that provides us with suppressed historical facts about one of the most important individuals who ever walked the face of our planet.9
Do Jacobovici’s words evoke memories of Dan Brown’s best-seller, The Da Vinci Code? Although Brown’s best-selling book is fictional, its woven tapestry of fact and fiction led millions into believing that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a secret marriage. The real facts, however, tell a far different story (see “Was There a Da Vinci Conspiracy?“).
What will the facts tell us about The Lost Gospel? How do we know if this 6th century manuscript is the true history of Jesus Christ, or just another hoax like the documentaries Jacobovici produced on the James Ossuary and The Jesus Family Tomb? To find out, we need to examine these new claims in light of historical facts about Jesus Christ and other manuscript evidence.
Radical Claims of The Lost Gospel
The book, The Lost Gospel, is based upon one solitary manuscript purchased by the British Museum in 1847 from an Egyptian monastery. The document has been there for 160 years, and has been studied by a few scholars. But no one has considered it to be historically significant–until Jacobovici and Wilson began speculating it is really a coded history of Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at the key facts about this document, which is a portion of the Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias Rhetor:
- The 29-chapter text dates back to 570 AD.
- It is written on vellum in the Syriac language (related to Aramaic).
- It is written by an unknown author.
- The “gospel” is entitled, Joseph and Aseneth.
Wilson and Jacobovici interpret the love story of Joseph and Aseneth as an allegory for Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Central to their claim is that Joseph was actually a code name for Jesus — and that Aseneth was actually a code name for Mary Magdalene.10
Dr. Robert R. Cargill, Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Iowa notes,
By that same allegorical logic, you could swap out the names of Samson and Delilah and claim that Mary Magdalene cut Jesus’ hair. Or swap out Adam and Eve and conclude that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were the primordial couple. Or read David and Bathsheba allegorically and end up with Jesus having a son named Solomon, who is guarded by the Priory of Sion, and…well, you get the picture.11
In other words, the entire premise for believing this 6th century manuscript is another gospel of Jesus Christ is based on the authors’ assumption that the names Joseph and Aseneth refer to Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Although world scholars don’t seem to be taking The Lost Gospel seriously, several Jesus-conspiracists, including some mass media outlets certainly are.
Assuming that Jacobovici and Wilson are correct about their interpretation of the names Joseph and Aseneth, let’s see if any actual facts substantiate their claims about Jesus.
Claim #1: “This ‘lost gospel’ is the true history of Jesus.”
According to Jacobovici and Wilson, the allegory of Joseph and Aseneth “is at least as authoritative” as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If so, we would expect it to be supported by other ancient manuscripts dated close to the time of Christ. So how does its credibility compare with the New Testament manuscripts about Jesus?12
- Although the authors speculate that the “lost gospel” is a copy of an earlier Christian manuscript, there simply aren’t any earlier manuscripts of the text. Cargill notes, “only hopeful speculation pushes the Syriac version of this text back to earlier centuries.”13
- Yet over 24,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts exist (5,600 in the original Greek), some as early as the second century (see “Are the Gospels Reliable?“).
- Additionally, over 36,000 letters and documents outside of the New Testament confirm Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
- The earliest copies of New Testament manuscripts date from as early as 125 A. D, whereas the Syriac manuscript is dated 570 A. D., around 450 years later. Dating is an extremely important factor in determining a manuscript’s authenticity.
- Christian leaders who knew the apostles write of them as the authors of the New Testament. No such claim is possible for the “lost gospel.”
The manuscript evidence for the New Testament is so strong that Professor of law John Warwick Montgomery stated,
No documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.14
Claim #2: “Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.”
The claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married has always been a great way to sell books. Sex combined with conspiracy is a proven money-maker. But is really true? (To read more about Jesus and Mary Magdalene see “Was Jesus Married?“).
Let’s examine the facts.
- Not one of over 24,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts even hint of a sexual relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
- Not one of the 36,000 Christian letters or documents outside of the New Testament supports the contention that they were married.
- Not one early secular historian mentions them as being married.
The assertion by Jacobovici and Wilson that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married simply isn’t supported by the facts of history. Oxford Professor of Church History, Diarmaid MacCulloch, calls their interpretation of the manuscript, “implausible.”15
Professor Robert Cargill summarizes the opinion of most scholars regarding the claims set forth in The Lost Gospel.
I’m an agnostic. I have no dog in the fight of whether Jesus was married or not. He could be married and have 4 kids like me and I wouldn’t care. The problem is not a theological one, it is one of scholarship, methodology, and the (mis)use of evidence.
Scholars won’t reject Mr. Jacobovici’s claims because they want to defend Christianity, scholars will reject Mr. Jacobovici’s speculations because he engages in circular reasoning, lacks evidence, breaks any number of rules of textual criticism, and engages in…“speculation wrapped in hearsay couched in conspiracy masquerading as science ensconced in sensationalism slathered with misinformation” – all of which is designed to sell books and get viewers to watch the accompanying documentary in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
There is a reason that the scholars of the world are not paying any attention to this latest so-called “discovery”: there’s nothing there.16
Regardless of what scholars like MacCulloch and Cargill conclude about The Lost Gospeland its claims, the debate over who Jesus Christ is will continue. Was he just a man–or someone far greater?
The New Testament writers, who claim to have been eyewitnesses to Jesus, tell us what they saw and believed. Having been one of Jesus’ closest followers, John wanted early Christian believers to know what he and the others disciples had witnessed.
We are eye-witnesses of it, and are now writing to you about it. the very life of all ages, the life that has always existed with the Father, which actually became visible in person to us mortal men.17
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
The most outlandish claim in the New Testament is that Jesus came back to life after his death on the cross and burial in a known tomb. Jesus’ disciples truly believed he had returned to life three days later. They were so convinced that their message eventually changed history.
In a New York Times article, Peter Steinfels cites the startling events that occurred three days after Jesus’ death:
Shortly after Jesus was executed, his followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled and cowering group into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom, preached at the risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened … But exactly what?18
Several skeptics attempted to disprove the story of Jesus’ resurrection. See their stunning conclusions at “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?“.